Thursday, August 30, 2007

My BIGBargain!

I did a little retail therapy on Sunday while my DH spent his afternoon helping to wash firetrucks and hose out the firehall. First stop was Joann's where I got a few cards of fancy buttons. I like to use them on my purses, but I do not like to pay more than $2 for them. I hit the JACKPOT with some really cute ones. They were originally $3 and $5 for 2 button cards. I got them on clearance for 50 cents!

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Next stop was Michaels were the above pictured items became mine. They are "older" sizzix alpha-bars. I am now the owner of Doodle block upper and lower case and Ransom alphas and numbers. If I had paid original retail price for them it would have cost $350.....Please take a seat when I tell you that I got them ALL for $32. Can you believe it???? I nearly can't!!!!

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Lots of new toys to play with! I am so excited!!

*******Some one had a question about what kind of clocks I use to make the altered clocks and where to get them. They are from Wal-mart and are in the Home Furnishings area near the picture frames and lamps. They are a Wal-mart brand item, Mainstays or Hometrends and they are so inexpensive. They are usually $3.76 and come in white, black, navy, red and burgundy frame colors. From time to time other colors are available depending on the season. I just love being a salesperson for my store! LOL! I like to dry sponge brush mine with a little acrylic paint to make them a little bit weathered looking. They are battery operated and require one AA battery.

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If you look at the clock face you will see that the clear plastic cover just sits in the the frame and is held in place by two tabs at 12 and 6. Just slide a thin butterknife (one of my favorite scrappin' tools) in there and gently pry the clear cover off. Next remove the hands by pulling them up. (The butterknife may help here as well.) the face of the clock is just a printed paper. Pull it out carefully and use it as a pattern for your clock. Embellish it as you wish and put it back together in reverse of how we took it apart.

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Some tips that I picked up by trial and error. If you are going to use something lumpy (like buttons) for your number markers make sure that you sit them in from the edge slightly so that there is room for the clear cover to go back on. If you plan to put anything on the hands of the clock (like butterfly stickers) be sure that they are still able to pass over each other freely, otherwise they will get stuck at noon most of the time. Be sure to test it before you alter it, so that if it doesn't work you haven't wasted time and supplies only to have a great looking nonfuctioning clock. ( It IS, quite honestly only a $3 clock from Wal-mart that has probably traveled more miles to get to you than most people will travel in a lifetime, the trip may have killed it! Just take it back to your friendly Walmart and they will exchange it for a new one!) Take the battery out before mailing your clock, nothing raises eyebrows in a post office line like a ticking package.

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If you check out some of the galleries at Two Peas or Splitcoast Stampers and search for altered clocks you will find tons of great ideas for making clocks!

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

School is back in session, Friday night football games, Crisp cool evening air.

YES! I love Autumn! ( I don't think that you are supposed to capitalize it, but I think it deserves a capital "A"!)

I am anxious for apples to be available fresh from the orchard! Apple pie, apple dumplings, apple butter! Carving pumpkins, scarecrows, and hardy mums. Piles of leaves, beautiful scenic drives, BRING IT ON!!!!!!!

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Check out the beautiful placemats I picked up at my place of employment. Won't they make the cutest purses for me to accessorize with while I am doing all my wonderful Autumn activities. (Just $2.88 each, still looking for some ribbon to coordinate for the handles.)

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I think that I may be a bit delusional...Just two more 9 hour stints at Wally-world before I have an 11 day vacation. Not going anywhere in particular, just NOT GOING TO WAL-MART! Yeeeeeeeeeahhhhhhhhh!!!!

Monday, August 27, 2007

Happy Birthday Honey!

(You are sooooo lucky I love you! The story of the cake...) So I get up yesterday morning to work on food for my DH's birthday. We had a few of his fireman buddies over and our nice neighbors and my family last evening for a little food and a redneck bonfire. Top of the list for his birthday food was the THE CAKE. (You all know THE CAKE, the Old Fashioned Apple Stack Cake... what i refer to as the PITA cake.) Soooooo I get out the mixer, but before I can get to mixing I have to get to sifting.... the dry ingredients need sifted not once, not twice, but THREE times.

So while all that sifting is going on, I get the apple filling started on the stove top. (Yes, I cheated.... I used premade applesauce instead of peeling, chopping and cooking down fresh apples... turn me into the Gourmet Police!) So, sift, sift, sift... cooking on the stovetop, and oh yeah... the oven preheating to 400 degrees. Mix up the batter.... Remembering that I love my DH and this is really the only thing that he asked to have for his birthday....

Another shortcut, I used disposable pans. Hey, this cake is 10 layers, sue me! (I threw them away after I was done with them too!) So bake 10 layers, 3 at a time, stacking them with apple filling in between. By now it is a little later in the morning and the temp and humidity are rising, and having the oven on at that high temp for that long has turned my house into an oven all its own. Ten layers later the below pictured cake is all done, my house is still about 120 degrees, and this cake is NOT VERY PRETTY. (The cake decorator in me really can't stand that!)All that aside, this is only the third time in 8 years that I have made this cake. My DH has fond memories of this cake and his Papaw Frank and that is why he likes it so much. I would make the cake again, but please only in the dead of winter! This is the first time that I actually hit the 10 layer mark. We had it for dessert tonight. I made something else for the picnic dessert, I will share it with you later.

Friday, August 24, 2007

Yummy Christmas Recipes!

This is also one of my card club's projects, a recipe tag swap, Christmas theme. I am having such good time making these little tags that I find it hard to stop! I already have my next 2 done and I am starting on a third one. ( I am not even sure that we are to be making that many, but I just can't stop myself!) I love the size, although it is rather small, so that makes it a challenge. I also decided for myself when we started this swap that I would not purchase anything new to complete the tags. I have come to the realization that I could likely scrapbook and card craft for the rest of my life and not need to buy anything but adhesives and albums/pages. It has been so much fun going through my stash and using it up! I have come across so many cute things that I forgot I had. I have also really been getting some mileage out of my collection of Christmas theme rubber stamps. I wish I could accurately describe the good feeling I have been having working on my cute little tags! Listen up card club gals, I hope we are planning to do another one of these in a different theme after Christmas!

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Travis is going back to Pittsburgh tonight and I have to tell you that it is hard to see him go. I loved having him here for the summer and he had a great time here. He would like to stay and try school here and we would love to have him full time. My heart is a bit heavy over his leaving. I really get a kick out of some of the things he comes up with and he often gives me a new perspective. He is a whiz kid with motors, switches, and making gadget out of his toys. Thankfully I have gotten over the feeling that he is destroying his "good" toys by harvesting parts from them to build his newest invention. I have a regular remote control car graveyard here. I also have a collection of really bizarre gadgets courtesy of T's chop-shop. I think his Dad is going to miss him a great deal as well, but he will cope by going on a search and recovery mission for his kidnapped tools!

Thursday, August 23, 2007

I am sure to be exhausted tonight and foul beyond words... we inventory today and I will go in at 4 PM to an absolute mountain of crap (sorry.... fine merchandise that just needs put away) that can't go back to the sales floor until they are done counting for the day.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Post #101!

It hardly seems like I have done this 100 times! I just am so hooked on it though! Mostly I love coming home and checking to see the comments, so keep them coming! LOL!

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I wanted to share some stuff from my card club with you all today. We meet once a month to make cards and have lunch and visit. It is sooooo much fun and I just love all the great ideas that I get from the gals! We do a $5 scrap/card related gift exchange and someone teaches a make and take. The hostess is in charge of bringing dessert. ( Dark chocolate pudding cake with peanutbutter frosting anyone?)

How about these neat fall theme stamps and accessories! They were my exchange gift from the last card club meeting. (Thanks Connie!) I am working on some cards using them! This was our make and take project. BS#1 showed us how to make this cute little tote from a sheet of 8.5 x 11 cardstock. Super simple and you can make it to coordinate with absolutely anything! This is one of those projects that I am sure to make many many times! Thanks Barb!

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Can I just say that I may be in the minority, but I have actually enjoyed the past couple days of rainy weather. It has been pretty awful for the Somerset County Fair to have this weather, but I am loving it. Rainy days are my favorite scrapping days. No need to make excuses to be inside. No guilt about not being outside when it is beautiful.

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Just to answer some questions from yesterday's post... The flowers were silk. Purchased at the WOW outlet in Greensburg I think. I mostly use silk flowers on my cakes now. Icing flowers take too much time to make, are too fragile and you can't eat them anyway. (They taste like dirt, and trust me I know what dirt tastes like... there's a title for a blog.... "Confessions of a Former Dirt Eater")

Alrighty... off to Wal-mart for me! I'll be back to check for comments later! Take care!

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Flowers and a Cake~~~ Hawaiian Style

Congratulations April and Drew!

The bride's bouquet above. Her colors were fuchsia and orange and her favorite flower is the hibiscus. Below are the bridesmaids bouquets. I just love the VIBRANT colors she chose! I have to admit that the flowers were quite a challenge for me. I am just glad that they were pleased with them! The cake , some traditional white and also some of a family favorite, burnt sugar. Decorated with white chocolate seashells and brown sugar sand. There are few feelings better than cutting that last slice of wedding cake. It feels like the entire weight of the whole cake that has been sitting on your shoulders since you set it up that morning has been lifted away. It is kind of like you set the cake up and then hold your breath until it is cut. That first breath is the best feeling. Also wanted to thank the happy couple for NOT smashing the cake, I was so proud of them! They were being encouraged to do it and they kept their promise not to and that means quite a lot to me.So, after the wedding it was off to Kenny's boss's annual picnic. What a fun time! We stayed up wayyyyyy to late. Like I mentioned before... I had considered not even getting out of bed on Sunday. I did sleep until a little bit after noon. Took a super long shower and just lounged around the house in my comfy plaid shorts and a well worn Dr. Suess t-shirt. Watched some TV and cat napped in the recliner! I feel quite refreshed!

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

There are the makings of one of those Mastercard commercials in these pictures. Something like...

Frame pack $59.99

Camel-Bak $9.99

One kid so loaded down he can barely stand up, but still grinning from ear to ear... ABSOLUTELY PRICELESS!

Sincerely, if some one tapped him on the chest I think he would fall right over and be stuck there like a turtle on his back with his legs kicking in the air!

I just hope that they have a good weather week and a great time rafting. And please dear God, let him bring his glasses home with him this year!

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Hey on a personal note, if anyone has any good job leads for someone with 15 years in customer service send them my way... If the crime at my store doesn't stop I am seriously hunting for a new job. It is ridiculous!

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Busy week here, I apologize to my BS's if I don't blog so much. Take care!

Monday, August 13, 2007

I will *ALMOST* be glad to go back to work tomorrow... LOL... Not not REALLY!

Seriously, it was a pretty busy weekend... Friday we spent the entire morning and part of the afternoon making pot pie. Ham pot pie and Chicken pot pie, about 50 quarts of it. Which is really just a warm up for Labor Day weekend when we make over 100 quarts for the Fall Harvest Gospel Music Festival at Camp Harmony. Friday's pot pie was for my church for a fundraising effort.

Even though it is so much work to make, I love doing it. There is something quite relaxing about running the flour and shortening through your hands until you can feel that it is combined just right. Working the water into the dry ingredients until the dough is mixed but not working it too much because you don't want it to be tough. Rolling the dough.... Cutting through it with the pizza cutter (not quite how Grandma Jake did it... but hey you know us kids and our new fangled gadgets!) and here is the secret... don't be afraid of the flour.... flour is your friend.... be generous with it when you are rolling that dough out and I promise you that your pot pie will have the best gravy in the world just from the flour that cooks off of the dough squares!

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It was quite a busy weekend... two birthday cakes decorated one for an 8 year old boy and one for an 80 year old lady. Worked at the PAC concession stand on Saturday evening. They put on an amazing production of the Music Man.

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Dropped Travis off at Camp this evening. I am praying for some good weather for them. I hope that they get to watch the stars a little bit tonight. I hope that they got to see some of the meteor shower. I just love to watch the "shooting stars."

Monday, August 06, 2007

A Wedding Shower!

My cousin Josh is marrying the sweetest gal this fall. Today was their wedding shower for our side of the family. We had one down here for her with us since she lives a few hours away... North meets the South! LOL! Probably a good thing to let her family get to know us a little bit at a time since we are quite a bit to take all at once. I remember the first time Kenny met the WHOLE family, we had only been dating about two months and I took him to the big July 4th Bash. He fit in just fine though!

The pictures today are of the gifts that I made for Josh and Brianna. She is doing her kitchen in a cherry theme and she got sooooo many really cute things. I can't wait to see her kitchen all decked out with the fun & pretty things! They tease Bri all the time about not being such a good cook, and if you know my family it is ALLLLLLLL about the FOOD! My gifts to her were an altered kitchen clock, a post it note holder/pen set(thanks for that idea BS#1), and a cookbook that I have been working on for over a year. It is a collection of over 170 recipes from family and friends.

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I have to confess that I am truly someone who works best under pressure. As of this morning none of her gifts were completed. The clock and post it holder weren't even started! I knew what I wanted them to look like, but was just having a hard time getting started on them. I think a lot of it was that the cookbook has been such a special project for me that it was hard to complete the first one. Kind of scared that it wouldn't turn out as good as what my expectations were for it. Now that I have the first one done.... everyone wants one! LOL!! (I keep telling them that Christmas is coming!)

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I also must confess that I was nearly in tears when it came time for her to open my gift. The suspense and apprehension was killing me! I wanted her to love it as much as I loved making it for her. I guess after working at it for so long it was hard to give it away. I think it is a little silly that I was so concerned that she would like it and even sillier that I got so emotional about it. Let me just say that I was not disappointed by her reaction and I am now relieved to have one completed copy of the book out there! I can also say that we are so blessed to have Brianna joining our family.

Saturday, August 04, 2007

Holy Windmills!

This is one of the three windmills that are standing right now on the Ridge Road heading toward Route 30. I have seen other ones up close, but I guess you forget exactly how massive they really are. When you are driving toward themand get the first glimpse of the three of them it is kind of jaw dropping, stop you in your tracks, make you stand there an wonder how on earth do they get them to stay standing. Just to give you an idea how big they are.... that little person in the left corner of the above picture is Travis. He is almost 5 feet tall and standing at the base of one of the windmill posts. The shot below is a closer picture of the blades all harnessed up and ready to be lifted to the post. There is plenty of controversy surrounding these windmills. I don't know exactly were my opinion stands. I think with all things there is some truth to what both sides have to say, and that you can make statistics read any way that you want to manipulate them. One of the most interesting things is how some people think that they are the magestic and beautiful and another will think they are an ugly eyesore. Beauty in the eye of the beholder and all.

Friday, August 03, 2007

Some Random Friday Thoughts

I was Susie Homemaker today... made Pan Fried Pork Chops, REAL Mashed Taters and Gravy and Sweet Corn for dinner.... gonna bake a little something later tonight too. I have a massive zucchini that our neighbor gave us, so if you have any good zucchini recipes send 'em my way!

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We are going to take a drive up over the hill tonight to see how the windmills are coming along. We are getting some about a mile and a half up over the hill from our house. I think that it is a great place for them, I know that it is darn windy up on that ridge in the winter time when the snow is drifting all across the road. I will take the camera and see if I can get some good pictures of them. Everyone says that they are absolutely massive. We did see some close up in Somerset a year or so ago. There is one that you can drive right up to and it has a geocache nearby.

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Are you Pennsylvania Proud? Pay attention in Civics class or American History?

This came to me from my friend Peggy. I was actually quite surprised at how many I got right!

Tomorrow is my family reunion. The Shroyer Family, my paternal grandmother's family. Should be lots of good food, some kids games, bingo, visiting.... all that good stuff. It is kind of strange though, I am not entirely sure how all of them are related.

The following are fantasies of what Iwould REALLY like to say instead of smiling and being nice! No need to comment, just venting a little.

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For the record... I cannot cash your paycheck if you do not have proof of identity, no your Social Security card is not a PHOTO ID, neither is a credit card, library card, or a photograph of your family. I also cannot cash your check if it is dated for tomorrow, come see me tomorow and we can talk!

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I do not know why your EBT card is not working, this is the Curse at Me Desk, call the place that issued the card to you I am sure they can help you.

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We have a 90 day return policy, last time I checked, Christmas was still in December...well past 90 days for returning your doggies Santa suit. Who is next in line???

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I cannot call the fire department or the police because you locked your keys in your car. They do not do that. You can call AAA if you are a member or a locksmith or towing service if you like. Heck, I can even let you call someone to bring you the spare set, or a taxi to take you home. Would you like to to look at the bus schedule? Nope, sorry the guys in our garage are not permitted to try to open your car. (We have paid too many times for damaging vehicles, so we don't do that anymore.) So here is the number for a locksmith, you decide.... Have a nice day.

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There is so much more on my mind that happpened the past few days, not much of it kind or PC, so I will just keep it to myself. That being said... next year I will get four weeks of vacation time and I am stockpiling my personal days.... I know there is a way that I can stretch them out so that I don't have to be here at the beginning of the month..... HMMMMM, sounds like a plan to me!

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Southern Fried Chicks, Free Font...

If you need to just crack up laughing let me recommend the Southern Fried Chicksto you! I have watched them three times on CMT and am still laughing til I get teary eyed. My guys even love them! Think of what the Blue Collar Comedy guys would be if they were women and you will get the idea! Set your VCR to tape them and watch it when you need a little pick me up!

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Travis and I have also been watching Burn Notice on USA network on Thursday evenings. Kind of a fun show, he is almost McGuyver like in how he fashions all these neat gadgets out of wire, cell phones, duct tape....right up Travis' alley! The main character, played by Jeffrey Donovan, is pretty easy on the eyes as well....that is the part that I like! LOL!

I am not a total TV addicted couch potato this summer, just a few select shows.

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I got this free font download in my mailbox yesterday. It is from Creating Keepsakes magazine and is a Becky Higgins font. If you are a font junkie like me I hope you enjoy it!

My parting words today are... I have been working at the cookbook, to be completed by Friday. I will for sure post pics when it is done. Looking for some one willing to go see Hairspray with me at the movies. (My guys will have no part of it! LOL!) Lastly, I got my fall/winter Stampin' Up catalog and WOW is it great!

About Me

I am from western Pennsylvania. Scrapbooker since 1995. Married to my wonderful husband Ken, who puts up with my obsession with much grace and patience. I have 2 great stepchildren, Travis and Melanie. I am also a cake decorator, card maker, stamper and love country music and conservative talk radio! We enjoy geo-caching and letterboxing as well.
I am Lizzyscrapsnstamps over at Splitcoaststampers.com